Originally Posted by
embankmentlb
I have just recently started riding 7 speed after riding 9 speed for over 15 years. I find that 7 has no drawbacks. With the exception, Hyperglide cassettes are very hard to find in anything other than 11-28+.
My old tricolor will not except an 11 and I refuse to concede that I need 28. Try finding a new 12- 23 or 13 -26.
,,,these are constructed in such a way that you can leave out one of the smaller sprockets, and still get a usable close range 7 cog assembly that fits on a 7 speed freehub. But they are spaced at the 8 speed standard, so are a better choice for friction shifting than for indexed shifting. You can kind of work around the indexing issues, with adjusting for neutral in the middle cog, and sneaking up on the highest and lowest ones because of the built in slop in an indexing rear derailleur. I used to get them cheaper from someone else, but you are correct in that they are quickly vanishing.
If, like me, you are using older short cage derailleurs that will only accept a 25 or 26 largest cog, it's a painful existence in what was otherwise a carefree world.
